Weekly Traffic at Finland’s Crossing Points With Russia Increases by About 40%

Though the Finnish Border Guard (RAJA) claims that the border situation at the border points that connect the two countries remains stable, the same also highlights that the traffic from Russia has moderately grown since July 15, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

“Weekly traffic at the Kainuu border crossing points has increased by about 40 per cent (approximately 700 people) since the restrictions were lifted. Despite its large percentage increase, cross-border traffic is still at a very low level compared to the time before the Coronavirus,” points out a statement of RAJA issued on August 2.

The Border Guard still notes that compared to July 2019, border traffic with Russia is still down since last month, 8,877 people were registered crossing the Kainuu border crossing point, which is 79 per cent less than in July 2019, when 41,393 people were registered by the same border guard.

Border officers at the Vartius border crossing, on the other hand, registered 8,661 people last month, which is a drop of 76 per cent compared to the same month in 2019, when as many as 36,369 people were recorded crossing this border point.

At the Kuusamo border crossing, the number of people registered in July was 216, which is also way lower compared to 2019, when the border guards at this point reported 5,024 border crossers.

Due to the drop in traffic in the two latter border crossings points, Kuusamo and Vartius, they are working within limited hours. While the Vartius border crossing is open from 08:00 to 19:00 every day of the week, the Kuusamo border crossing located in Kortesalmi is open from Monday to Friday from 09:00 to 16:00. The latter is completely closed on weekends.